Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
I’ve developed a kind of love-hate relationship with this game. I really enjoy the mood in it, the fact that it’s not all action and that I have to be careful otherwise I’m dead. It’s not like in a lot of other games where the enemy can’t hit a barn even if their inside it, and even if they do hit you it doesn’t really matter. No, it’s realistic in that way. They shoot you, and you die. If you’re lucky you survive the first hit, but that doesn’t really matter because you’ll be so disoriented that you can’t even get your soldier to hit the ground for cover, so you’re pretty much dead already anyhow, you just don’t know it yet.
But: The problem with this game is that it strives so much for realism, and still shows so much lack of just that. The graphics engine sucks to be honest. It’s happened several times that I can’t shoot over a rock or another obstacle, yet the enemy can shoot me. Or that I’m perfectly covered by a thick tree and still get killed. Trying to lean out and shoot to the side of the tree I’ve seen my bullets stopped by the tree’s aura! Swear to God! There are bullet holes in thin air to prove it. On the other hand it’s a great help for me and my co-players when the enemy reveals himself by shoving the barrel of his Kalashnikov through a wall…
Or take this example: On one level there’s a bunch of huts on poles at the insertion point. What happened was the following: I lay down, crawling toward a hut. My barrel way in beneath it. At this point I could aim through my sight, but trying to shoot the enemy I saw, to my surprise and frustration, that the bullets hit the wall above my head. I’ve always thought bullets exit through the muzzle of a gun, but obviously I was wrong. I now know that bullets exit from the helmet. The rifle is like a sextant, just an instrument to plot the course of the bullet. Thanks for setting me straight on that one, Tom.
And speaking of those huts – my experience tells me that if you can lie down and put a gun to your shoulder underneath something, the space ought to be enough to crawl under. Not in Tom Clancy’s world. My guess is that my soldiers backpack is too big. Which raises the next question: Why the hell does my soldier have a backpack? He can’t pack hand grenades, and a sidearm or extra ammo. Nope, you have to choose one of the above. So what does he pack in his backpack? A goddamn tent? Toilet paper? What? I’d really like to know why an elite soldier, inserted for a single attack against an enemy camp, need a backpack.
I don’t know if my soldier is really fit for this kind of action. He’s obviously not strong enough to carry more than one item except his rifle. I doubt he’s strong enough to even carry a grudge. He can’t jump. Tom Clancy’s elite soldiers are the only mammal beside the elephant that can’t jump. Sure, they say white men can’t jump, but this is ridiculous. He can’t get his ass over a small rock or a log. And the most annoying thing is that every item has a personal space that can’t be violated, so you have to move three feet beside the tree/rock/whatever, and occasionally you get stuck in the polygons. Or worse, in the aura of things.
I understand that a game map needs restrictions, and Ghost Recon really deserves credit for letting you move freely, but still: These obstacles that shouldn’t be obstacles are just the symptoms of a rather poor graphics engine.
Another thing I would like explained to me is this: What’s the point of all the camouflage and technology that these guys are supposed to use; when they still give you no advantage whatsoever? When the enemy can still spot you from 300 yards, and worse: hit you in the face with an AK47, a gun well known for it’s low hit ratio at long range (and if I know that, Tom Clancy, with his hallmark weapon knowledge, sure as hell knows). Especially since my hi-tech sniper rifle hits the grass in front of me when I fire it lying down. I might as well go into combat dressed in a Hawaii shirt armed with an umbrella drink.
And forget about filling out your team with AI support. Now there’s a bunch of morons who should never have been allowed to leave boot camp. They’re just too stupid. If you order them to follow you they will, but at their best they will just stay behind you making no difference whatsoever, or just get shot, and at their worst they will stand in your way when you try to retreat. Of course, you can always leave them at a strategic point hoping that they’ll make themselves useful. Which they won’t. Either you tell them to fire at will, and in that case they’ll start firing as soon as they see the enemy, and get themselves killed. Or you tell them to hold their fire, and then the enemy can walk up to them and beat them to death with a stick. One time I gave it a serious try, using several teams that I manoeuvred across the map. Once I had gotten a team in position I ordered them to lie down, and then proceeded with the next team. It didn’t take long until I heard gunfire and ran as hell (and let me tell you: these guys are no sprinters) to help my troops, wondering what they were up to. I came up in time to see what was going on. They all stood up, in line, getting killed off one by one. After that I gave up the idea of playing with AI support. It’s just not worth the effort.
As I said in the beginning; it’s a love/hate thing. I really enjoy the game, and it’s wonderfully entertaining at its best, but the annoying little things are just too many to be acceptable.
Elite soldiers who can’t get their asses up a stair unless they’re standing right in front of it? Who can’t even crawl? Realism, my ass.
But: The problem with this game is that it strives so much for realism, and still shows so much lack of just that. The graphics engine sucks to be honest. It’s happened several times that I can’t shoot over a rock or another obstacle, yet the enemy can shoot me. Or that I’m perfectly covered by a thick tree and still get killed. Trying to lean out and shoot to the side of the tree I’ve seen my bullets stopped by the tree’s aura! Swear to God! There are bullet holes in thin air to prove it. On the other hand it’s a great help for me and my co-players when the enemy reveals himself by shoving the barrel of his Kalashnikov through a wall…
Or take this example: On one level there’s a bunch of huts on poles at the insertion point. What happened was the following: I lay down, crawling toward a hut. My barrel way in beneath it. At this point I could aim through my sight, but trying to shoot the enemy I saw, to my surprise and frustration, that the bullets hit the wall above my head. I’ve always thought bullets exit through the muzzle of a gun, but obviously I was wrong. I now know that bullets exit from the helmet. The rifle is like a sextant, just an instrument to plot the course of the bullet. Thanks for setting me straight on that one, Tom.
And speaking of those huts – my experience tells me that if you can lie down and put a gun to your shoulder underneath something, the space ought to be enough to crawl under. Not in Tom Clancy’s world. My guess is that my soldiers backpack is too big. Which raises the next question: Why the hell does my soldier have a backpack? He can’t pack hand grenades, and a sidearm or extra ammo. Nope, you have to choose one of the above. So what does he pack in his backpack? A goddamn tent? Toilet paper? What? I’d really like to know why an elite soldier, inserted for a single attack against an enemy camp, need a backpack.
I don’t know if my soldier is really fit for this kind of action. He’s obviously not strong enough to carry more than one item except his rifle. I doubt he’s strong enough to even carry a grudge. He can’t jump. Tom Clancy’s elite soldiers are the only mammal beside the elephant that can’t jump. Sure, they say white men can’t jump, but this is ridiculous. He can’t get his ass over a small rock or a log. And the most annoying thing is that every item has a personal space that can’t be violated, so you have to move three feet beside the tree/rock/whatever, and occasionally you get stuck in the polygons. Or worse, in the aura of things.
I understand that a game map needs restrictions, and Ghost Recon really deserves credit for letting you move freely, but still: These obstacles that shouldn’t be obstacles are just the symptoms of a rather poor graphics engine.
Another thing I would like explained to me is this: What’s the point of all the camouflage and technology that these guys are supposed to use; when they still give you no advantage whatsoever? When the enemy can still spot you from 300 yards, and worse: hit you in the face with an AK47, a gun well known for it’s low hit ratio at long range (and if I know that, Tom Clancy, with his hallmark weapon knowledge, sure as hell knows). Especially since my hi-tech sniper rifle hits the grass in front of me when I fire it lying down. I might as well go into combat dressed in a Hawaii shirt armed with an umbrella drink.
And forget about filling out your team with AI support. Now there’s a bunch of morons who should never have been allowed to leave boot camp. They’re just too stupid. If you order them to follow you they will, but at their best they will just stay behind you making no difference whatsoever, or just get shot, and at their worst they will stand in your way when you try to retreat. Of course, you can always leave them at a strategic point hoping that they’ll make themselves useful. Which they won’t. Either you tell them to fire at will, and in that case they’ll start firing as soon as they see the enemy, and get themselves killed. Or you tell them to hold their fire, and then the enemy can walk up to them and beat them to death with a stick. One time I gave it a serious try, using several teams that I manoeuvred across the map. Once I had gotten a team in position I ordered them to lie down, and then proceeded with the next team. It didn’t take long until I heard gunfire and ran as hell (and let me tell you: these guys are no sprinters) to help my troops, wondering what they were up to. I came up in time to see what was going on. They all stood up, in line, getting killed off one by one. After that I gave up the idea of playing with AI support. It’s just not worth the effort.
As I said in the beginning; it’s a love/hate thing. I really enjoy the game, and it’s wonderfully entertaining at its best, but the annoying little things are just too many to be acceptable.
Elite soldiers who can’t get their asses up a stair unless they’re standing right in front of it? Who can’t even crawl? Realism, my ass.
posted by Joshua_Tree at 1:29 AM
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